Medical marijuana is all the rage these days. States all across the US are proposing new laws either implementing a system for legalizing marijuana use for “medical” purposes, or going all the way and making recreational use legal. But the state of Illinois has decided that they don’t want to let another opportunity to confiscate firearms from some law abiding citizens go to waste. They’ve proposed in a new law that people who are prescribed medical marijuana must turn in their FOID card — and with it their guns . . .
An article appeared in the Chicago Tribune today entitled “Proposed medical marijuana rules: Your pot or your gun” and gleefully describes how the proposed law would require those who apply for treatment with marijuana would be required to turn in all of their guns and their FOID card.
One new proposal states that a qualifying patient or caregiver may not possess a firearm, even if they have a state firearm owner’s identification card or concealed carry permit, and violators may be subject to sanctions by state police.
While that may seem reasonable on the surface — “we don’t want drug addicts with guns, do we?” — the reality is that the law is simply taking advantage of the hip and happening law reform of the day to disarm otherwise law abiding citizens.
Under the current law, you can be prescribed a whole variety of mind-altering drugs, including anti-psychotics and heavy sedatives, and still legally own guns. Heavy doses of morphine or lithium are fine, but somehow marijuana is beyond the pale. The state of Illinois wants marijuana users to be stripped of their constitutionally protected right to bear arms just because they’re being treated for a medical condition using a common and (now) medically recognized treatment, prescribed by a doctor.
We’ve been seeing the slow creep of the gun rights debate towards using “mental health” as a way to disqualify as many people as possible, and it looks like Illinois is jumping on the latest legislative bandwagon and trying to use it to run the Gun Rights Restoration Express off the road.